More than most people, I think, we tend to have a much greater ... appreciation of our identities. We are forced to confront who and what we are versus what society thinks we are or should be, and by the time one chooses to transition, you've already made some very hard choices around those questions.
Neuro-engineering is an emerging technology that deals with directly altering the brain through integration of technology, gene therapy and other techniques. A good example is described in an
article in Wired Magazine where scientists applied gene sequences from two light-sensitive organisms directly to a lab-mouse's brain, allowing them to switch parts of the animal's brain on or off with different colours of light. A
follow-up article deals with how brainwave patterns can be directly altered through application of various magnetic fields, amongst other techniques.
Now, the question of experimentation on animals aside, which I have serious problems with, my question revolves around the ethics of developing and applying this sort of technology. Obviously this stuff is fascinating and has amazing possibilities, but there are also profound questions around identity, mind and ultimately, if you believe in it, "soul/spirit/whatever" here. If depression, happiness, fear etc. can be switched on and off at will, if one can alter the structure and chemistry of the brain, thus altering the mind that arises from it - either your own or whomever else carries the control box, where do "you" begin and end?
This is a question that often comes up in cyberpunk literature and film - most notably Ghost in the Shell, where "hacking" somebody's brain through their digitally integrated components is a common crime, but now that question is starting to move into the real world, and with so many people out there so sure of "virtue" and "sin" or of "normal" and "disordered", are we ready for this kind of technology?
Mina.
